Hello, I just moved to central Kentucky and am researching and planning for my new yard. This is still tentative, but here is my plan/wish list. I moved from Florida where I grew mostly tropical trees (mango, lychee, banana, avocado, etc). I am new to growing trees in Kentucky, so any thoughts and advice are welcome.
If they do well in your area I would suggest Karmijn de Sonnaville, Rubinette, and my fav, Liberty apples. As for pears, Dana’s Hovey and White Doyenne work for me; Gold Spice is another small, very flavorful pear but it’s a little gritty, if that’s a problem. And I would have to have a prune plum.
Yes, I considered Pawpaws. But I’ve never eaten one and am hesitant to buy a tree when I don’t know if I like the fruit. Where can I find good pawpaws to sample in or around Lexington? Or do I have to wait until next year?
Hello, WD. Welcome to the forum, and Kentucky. Are you close to Lexington or further south? We’re in NE KY, close to the Grayson area. We moved up here about 4 years ago from north Texas.
We started planting fruit plants and trees last year, so we have a lot of stuff in the ground, but nothing has produced yet.
We might get some strawberries and a few apples next year, but that’s prob it.
Your choices sound pretty good, we are also growing Goldrush, Pristine, Moonglow, Redhaven as well. We’re actually planning on adding your same black and raspberry choices next year in addition to some others. To see what else we have just click on my dog icon.
Raspberries, gooseberries, strawberries, and most blackberries and blueberries do well in the state.
Peaches are iffy here, as they tend to bloom before the killing frosts are over with, but some years you’ll get some fruit. You might have better luck with them in central KY than I would, tho. Contender, Intrepid, Reliance and Madison are some of the more frost hardy varieties.
Your plum choices are probably OK, I don’t know that much about them, but plums seem to grow well here.
Tart cherries do better here than sweet cherries if you’re interested in those.
There’s a few very nice orchards in your part of the state. If you want to see what varieties of apples, pears, peaches and berries, etc they grow, you can check out these sites. We have been to Reed Valley several times over the last couple years, and they have hundreds of apple trees, along with pears, peaches, cherries, blue and blackberries and veggies. A very nice place and the owners are very nice and informative about what they grow.
subdood, we are in Lexington right now but renting while we buy a house. Most likely buying south of Lexington area. Jessamine or Garrard counties. Not set in stone yet, but hopefully will be soon.
OK, well, you’re about 100mi SW of us, so somewhat similar climate. And right now, the climate is Cold! We’ve been here for our fourth December, and I don’t remember the month being this cold. Hope it’s not too much a shock to y’all’s systems. I’m pretty sure it won’t be like this for the next three months, usually late Feb is the coldest and snowiest. The last two winters have been somewhat mild. The other seasons are very comfortable, summer can get a bit humid, but compared to Florida, it’s nothing.
Anyways, good luck with the home search, Lexington and the surrounding area is very nice.
Yeah, we are trying to get acclimated to cold weather again. The summers here will feel nice, though, compared to July and August in FL. Years ago we spent a little time in MN, so we know a bit about surviving cold temps. But definitely looking forward to spring. (and getting started on the garden of course)
Yep, spring will be here before you know it. I do not like the cold weather, but I’ve gotten a bit more used to it over the last few years. Just have to dress in layers. The next week will be cold, but it’s supposed to warm to normal temps (highs in 40s) after that.
We’re up here in the foothills, and the trees don’t totally leaf out until May, which coming from TX was unusual to see. But when they do, it’s beautiful seeing the hillsides awash in green.
This will be our fifth year growing veggies, and have learned a lot as to what works here. We have trouble with carrots and some other root crops, but have good luck with reg and sweet potatoes. Corn, cukes, peppers and pole beans do great, and if you can keep the deer out, tomatoes produce well also. We tried growing small pie pumpkins here this year and got a good crop of them. Okra hasn’t done well here, maybe because it’s not hot enough here, perhaps.
Next year, I’d like to maybe try some watermelons for the first time in addition to all the veggies.
We just got back our soil reports for our plots, and were able to get our acidic soil pH up from about 5 to 6. I laid down about 700# of lime last spring to get that. So, hopefully our crops will do better next year.
Whenever you get your own place, I recommend getting some soil samples sent in. UK has extension offices in all counties, so you can submit samples to them. It only cost $3 per sample for us, but the costs can vary widely county to county.